Our Little Dorm Mother

Chapter 44- Dishonest Feelings

A few days had passed since EXO had received notice about Nami going on the reality show, 'We Got Married'. During those few days, their schedules had been jam-packed with dance rehearsals, fan signings and other promotional events as they steadily approached their upcoming US tour, which was less than two months away.

Amidst their hectic schedules, Nami had started to recover swiftly from her trauma. She had begun dropping off their lunches again and slowly taking over her duties as dorm mother from D.O. The EXO members were pleased by her slow but steady progress. But they were more thankful to the SM staff who had accelerated her recovery thanks to their meticulous care.

When Manager-nim came to visit the EXO members, the following day, after notifying Suho of the news about WGM, he had been appalled to see how sickly Nami looked. "We can't have you looking like a corpse bride!" he had exclaimed, as he gave her a once-over and inspected her brittle hair, her sunken cheeks and deathly pallor.

Immediately, he called for Stylist-noona and his team of nutritionists who came and pampered Nami and nursed her back to health so that she would be glowing in time for filming the show. In just a couple of days, Nami was already radiating with life and almost identical to her former self, if not better looking than before.

Things were finally looking up for Nami and the EXO members were overjoyed to see her smiling and laughing again as if the past month had not happened at all. Everyone was happy to move on; everyone, apart from one person.

"Do"

"Re"

"Mi"

"Fa"

"So"

"La"

"Ti"

"Doooooo"

Baekhyun belted out the highest note he could hit and Chen conceded in defeat. "My voice hasn't warmed up yet" he stated, rubbing his throat. "So that one doesn't count!"

Baekhyun smirked, "Whatever you say, you sore loser. You just can't accept I can reach a higher note than you."

Chen scoffed. "We'll see about that!"

The pair were in one of the empty practice rooms in SM Entertainment, warming up their voices before they began recording later on that day. Currently, it was only the beagle line in the room as the others were busy accomplishing their individual activities. On the far side of the room was a gloomy Chanyeol, who sat with his acoustic guitar, trying to write songs on his manuscript paper. He strummed a few chords before suddenly making a grating sound that caught the attention of Baekhyun and Chen, who had turned to face him.

Chanyeol sighed in frustration as he dropped his pencil on the floor. He covered his eyes with his hand as he cradled his guitar with the other.

"You okay, Chanyeol-ah?" Baekhyun asked from the other side. He looked at him worriedly before exchanging concerned looks with Chen and walking over to him. Chen followed suit.

"I'm fine" Chanyeol murmured as he slid his hand down and tried to play on his guitar again. But as much as he tried to play something cheerful and upbeat, all that came out was a jarring sound that grated on Chen and Baekhyun's eardrums like nails screeching on a chalkboard.

Chen winced at the misplayed chord, "You don't sound fine."

Chanyeol continued to play on his guitar, repeating the same chords over and over until he finally felt satisfied that he had played it right. But even though he knew it sounded correct, he couldn't help feeling that something was missing. It was like his music had no life, no meaning, no soul. It was as empty as his heart.